Publication officials have been urged by Premier Zhu Rongji to redouble their efforts to regulate press and publication markets, and protect intellectual property rights.
Zhu, together with Vice-Premier Li Lanqing and other ministerial officials, inspected the State Press and Publication Administration Thursday.
Officials were advised to focus on supervising the market by eliminating erotic and illegal publications nationwide.
Although big progress has been made in regulating the market, there are still many problems, said Zhu.
The campaign of eliminating erotic and illegal publications is key to the shaping of young people and can by no means be slacked off, he said.
He called all relevant departments to work in coordination during the campaign and to tighten the control over corruptive activities in the publication industry.
Zhu also stressed the protection of intellectual property rights should be soundly carried out.
The cultural market in China cannot witness the predicted boom of high-quality cultural products if intellectual property rights are not protected, he said.
He pointed out that piracy in the country is still rampant, and the development of the software industry is, therefore, greatly affected.
The fight against piracy should be conducted even more severely, he said, adding that the printing, publishing and issuing of teaching materials and dictionaries should be supervised under strict conditions.
Zhu said the quality of teaching materials for middle and primary schools, especially rural middle and primary schools, must be ensured.
The price of teaching materials should also be lowered to ease the burden of farmers.
Li said printing and binding techniques should be upgraded to make it convenient for readers.
He pointed out some books are too heavy and big to read.
(China Daily December 14, 2001)
